UK gas prices doubled in a week, ONS says

Gas prices in the UK have more than a doubled in the space of a week, according to new official data.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that the System Average Price (SAP) of gas rose by 110% in the week to November 6, compared with the previous week.This was the biggest week-on-week increase seen throughout 2022, it said.Furthermore, prices soared 322% above the level seen in February 2020, before the pandemic.The ONS looks at the average price of all gas traded through the market used by the National Grid to collect the data, which reflects spot prices on the day.It comes as households are being stretched by soaring energy costs, with the cost of heating homes and using electricity expected to ramp up over the colder months.The Government has begun handing out a £400 rebate to all households this winter as part of its scheme to ease the pressure on people’s finances.The ONS’s data, which regularly looks into economic and social activity in the UK, also revealed signs of squeezed budgets affecting the retail and restaurant sector.National retail footfall during the same week – referring to the volume of people entering a shop – fell to 88% of the level in the equivalent week in 2019, according to figures from Springboard.Footfall was also 91% of the level recorded in the previous week, with all UK regions except Northern Ireland reporting a decline in shoppers.Visits to shopping centres slipped the furthest to just 82% of the level recorded in the same period in 2019, suggesting that consumers are reining in shopping trips.Furthermore, the number of seated diners fell by 12 percentage points in the week to November 6, according to data from bookings service OpenTable.In London, restaurant visits were 11 percentage points lower than the equivalent week in 2019, before activity in the city was crippled by Covid lockdowns.However, restaurant bookings were 118% of the level in the equivalent pre-pandemic week in 2019, indicating that the sector has rebounded across the UK as a whole.